Romney Had It Out With George Santos at SOTU

You can count the junior senator from Utah as someone who won't be breaking bread with Rep. George Santos anytime soon. Sen. Mitt Romney had some words for the newly elected and unrelentingly controversial representative from New York at Tuesday night's State of the Union address, and they went a little something like this: "He’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there," Romney said, referring to Santos standing in the aisle as President Biden made his way into the chamber. "Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president," he said, per NBC News.

Romney apparently said as much to Santos directly, in an exchange that happened prior to the SOTU address that was observed by reporters who asked Romney what the men had discussed. The New York Times reports that "the usually cheerful Mr. Santos looked slightly stung, and then annoyed" after the two spoke. Santos later tweeted this to the 2012 presidential nominee shortly after the address: "Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!"

The Times notes that Romney's stance puts him out of step with party leadership, which isn't an entirely unusual position for him to be in. And Romney made his position clear, adding, "[Santos] says he, you know, that he embellished his record. Look, embellishing is saying you got an A when you got an A-. Lying is saying you graduated from a college that you didn’t even attend, and he shouldn’t be in Congress." (More Mitt Romney stories.)